August 1, 2013 (JUBA) – South Sudan president, Salva Kiir has reinstated two senior administrators suspended from his office over corruption allegations, nearly four months back.
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- President Salva Kiir addresses a joint news conference with his Sudanese counterpart Omer Al-Bashir in Juba April 12, 2013. (Reuters)
The president, in April, suspended Mayen Wol, a chief administrator in office and Yel Luol, an executive director after huge sums of money in both foreign and local currencies went missing from the presidency.
Also suspended was Nhomout Agoth Cithiik, the accounts controller in the same office.
The two separate theft incidences occurred in the Office of the President's West Wing on the 15th and 23rd March 2013, respectively.
However, the criminal acts were not revealed by the office until Sudan Tribune broke news about it a week later.
Kiir later formed a committee, headed by the country's anti-graft chairperson John Gatwec Lul, to investigate the matter.
The committee, in its report, said the alleged thefts were not carried out by external culprits, but an organized act by insiders within the presidency. The report said that the manner of the thefts suggested that they were a colluding syndicate from staff inside the president's office.
"In spite of the gravity of the crime, there was a remarkable indecision from the senior staff in the OoP [Office of the President] to report the matter to the authorities or even enhance security on site," the report criticised.
But Kiir, in a rather bizarre move, reinstated Wol and Luol to their previous positions, raising questions over his rhetoric commitment in anti-corruption in two-year old nation.
The two officials, removed through a presidential decree issued in April, were recently seen chairing a meeting in the president's office, leaving many astonished.
It however remains unclear why the president reinstated the duo, contrary to the recommendations in the investigation report, which demanded administrative measures against the suspects.
The incident comes hardly a week after Kiir sacked Peter Gol Mayen, the finance and administration director in his office. The presidential order, read on the state-owned SSTV, gave no reason for the official's removal.
(ST)